MODES OF INQUIRY, FOCUSED INQUIRIES, AND COMPETENCIES:
Modes of Inquiry
In addition to Areas of Knowledge, Curriculum 2000 also
organizes the curriculum in terms of Modes of Inquiry. There are
many ways to acquire, transform, and communicate knowledge, and
to reach understanding. The array of academic disciplines reflects
this diversity in modes of inquiry. Underlying the diversity is
a spectrum anchored, at one end, with reasoning rooted in logic
and mathematics and, on the other, with approaches to knowledge
which emphasize interpretation and the interaction between interpretation
and aesthetic sensibility.
It is essential that our students be aware of this diversity
and adept with several modes of inquiry. We have chosen to organize
the relatively broad and familiar modes of inquiry around the
two anchors: Quantitative, Inductive, and Deductive, Reasoning
(QIDR); and Interpretative and Aesthetic Approaches (IAA).
The modes of inquiry are associated differentially but not exclusively
with the areas of knowledge and with their constituent disciplines.
Mathematics and the Natural Sciences are most strongly associated
with QIDR and the Humanities with IAA. The Social Sciences are
associated with QIDR and also with interpretative reasoning. Consequently,
courses from a number of disciplines can provide exposure to each
of the modes of inquiry.
There are two modes of inquiry: 1) Quantitative, Inductive,
and Deductive Reasoning and 2) Interpretive and Aesthetic Approaches.
For each of these, as well as for the Focused Inquiries and
Competencies described below, the committee has defined a rationale,
a set of objectives, the requirement, and the criteria by which
courses qualify to meet the requirement. Objectives are
the learning outcomes we seek to promote. Criteria establish
the conditions under which a course can qualify for a mode of
inquiry, competency, or field of inquiry designation.
Quantitative, Inductive, and Deductive Reasoning
(QIDR)
Rationale: QIDR encompasses three broad areas: data acquisition
and description; quantitative methods; and concepts or frameworks
of deductive and inductive reasoning. QIDR forms the cornerstone
of mathematics, the physical, biological, and computational sciences,
and many aspects of the social sciences. It plays an essential
and growing role in our increasingly technological society, as
well as in the formation and design of political and economic
policies that profoundly effect quality of life. Consequently,
a familiarity with the body of ideas and techniques that constitute
QIDR is an essential part of what it means to be an educated person
today.
Just as important as the knowledge of QIDR techniques is an awareness
of their limitations and the possibility of their improper application.
This is essential, even for those whose careers will not directly
involve quantitative applications; it is important, for example,
for students to understand how truth claims based on quantitative
reasoning are developed and contested, as well as why there can
be (and often are) conflicting views on important issues, each
of which may be based on quantitative analyses of the same available
data.
Objectives: We seek for students to acquire:
- knowledge of the requirements for reliable and valid data,
its description and the conditions for valid descriptive and
causal inference
- understanding of descriptive and inferential statistical methods
and their use in analyzing data and testing hypotheses
- comprehension of the concepts and constructions of mathematical
models
- knowledge about application of analytic techniques, such as
calculus, to those models. A student should learn not only to
compute solutions to problems designed to teach these techniques,
but also how to decide when these techniques are appropriate.
- engagement with the process of deductive or inductive reasoning
itself in courses, such as philosophy, that concern formal logic
and its place in reasoning
- experience with particular formal systems, such as computer
programming or music composition, where a system of formal rules
serves as a framework for creative work
Requirement: Students must complete two QIDR exposures,
one of which must meet Criterion 1.
Criteria: A course offering exposure in QIDR meets one
of the following conditions:
- It has as its main purpose instruction in a quantitative skill,
such as proficiency in some aspect of mathematics, statistics,
or computer science. Among its secondary purposes should be
the development of an understanding of appropriate uses of such
techniques.
- It emphasizes instruction in the practice of working in a
deductive, inductive, or formal system, such as computer programming,
linguistics, symbolic logic, or music theory/composition.
- It emphasizes the development and critical evaluation of mathematical
or deductive/inductive models appropriate to the analysis of
problems in a particular field, such as the sciences (natural
and social), engineering, or mathematics
Interpretative and Aesthetic Approaches (IAA)
Rationale: A curriculum aiming at an integral education
of the person is incomplete without offering exposure to ways
of understanding which are primarily experiential and interpretive.
The understanding of cultural modes of expression can be active
and performative, as in theater, dance, music, the visual arts,
and creative writing, or interpretative and hermeneutic, as in
literary and cultural studies, the history of art, philosophy,
and religious studies.
Objectives: Duke aims for students to develop an awareness
and appreciation of the styles, designs, performances, arts, and
narratives by which societies -- in this and other cultures --
organize their lives. The objective here is for students to be
able to experience, perform, and interpret specific social texts,
historical events, and cultural practices. We seek for students
to:
- experience and understand specific arts, performances, or
practices in terms of their stylistic modes and/or histories
- engage with conceptual tools developed in various disciplines
as well as across disciplines to study the styles, meanings,
and effects of expressive behavior
- study critical and theoretical perspectives for unraveling
the complexities between practice and composition of expressive
arts and texts.
Requirements: Students must complete two IAA exposures.
Criteria: A course offering exposure in IAA meets at least
one of the following conditions:
- It involves the experience of creative practice (as in the
arts), as a means to develop aesthetic understanding of human
interactions and creativity.
- It emphasizes explicit instruction in the philosophies and
methods of understanding in the humanities in relation to other
modes of inquiry.
- It stresses the teaching of how to construct interpretative
arguments.
- It focuses on the teaching of critical interpretation as a
method of understanding texts, practices, or artifacts within
a social, religious, political, or historical context.
Next: FOCUSED INQUIRY
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